


New Friends

by BekkaChaos



Series: Gallavich Drabbles [73]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Gallavich, Gen, Kid!Ian, Kid!Mickey, Kids, They Are Kids, mainly fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 10:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1937466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BekkaChaos/pseuds/BekkaChaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em><strong>based on a prompt:</strong> Them as kids say around 4-6ish seriously just cute adorable little them.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Friends

~~Okay, so I may or may not have gone slightly overboard (as-fucking-always)~~

Mickey's been hanging out at the baseball field ever since he was a little kid. 'Course, mostly he was on his own, his big brothers were usually too busy with other stuff to play.

He would take down his little league bat (which used to be Joey's before he got bored of it) and find an old baseball and head on down at the end of the day when all the practice was over. He was only seven but his parents didn't really care if he was out after dark, so long as he was back before... well, as long as he was back.

So one night he headed out, bat over his shoulder and carrying the tatty old ball in the other hand, making his way out to the field. He liked it there, especially alone.

His house was so loud, lots of siblings and yelling and as much as he loved his little sister, she was a massive crybaby.

His method of practice was simple, throw the ball up really high, giving him enough time to get a good grip on the bat and take a big swing. He almost always missed.

There's a reason baseball is a team sport.

So tonight he kept up his method, throw and miss, until he managed to time it just right, the bat hitting the ball with a massive _clunk_ and flying out and into the dugout. Safe to say he was pretty happy with himself.

He dropped his bat and jogged over to the place where the ball had rolled and grinned to himself because damn it that was awesome!

As he jumped down into the pit to look for the ball he realised he wasn't alone. He saw a small kid sitting with his back to him on one of the benches, leaning his head against the wall and holding his knees up against his chest.

_Weird, there was almost never anyone here this late_ , Mickey thought. He walked over to the kid, calling out a 'hey' as he did.

The kid spun around, his face covered in freckles and his big eyes a little glassy.

"Who're you?" Mickey asked, stopping a couple metres behind him.

The kid turned around, he had to have been about Mandy's age, definitely not older than Mickey. He sniffed a little and wiped the back of his hand under his nose.

"Ian," he said quietly.

"What you doing down here?" Mickey asked.

"Waiting," he said.

"What for?"

"My daddy."

"Where'd he go?" Ian shrugged and Mickey figured Ian's dad was probably a lot like his own, he got left places to wait for a while too, usually when his dad was off buying his special medicine. "My dad leaves me places too, he always comes back."

"Really?" Ian asked.

Mickey nodded, "You want to come out and play while you wait? You know how to throw a ball?"

Ian nodded, slipping off the bench with a smile. Mickey grinned, it wasn't every day he had someone to play with.

He found the ball and they rushed back out onto the field, Mickey going to grab his bat.

"I'm practising for little league," he said to Ian, "dad says that I get to play this year."

"I can't yet, I'm not old enough," Ian said, dropping the ball when Mickey threw it to him.

"Well I'll teach you, then you'll be as good as I am when you are allowed to play," he said.

So he told Ian how to pitch a good ball, and it took a while but eventually Ian's throws weren't half bad - for a five year old. He even let Ian have a go at batting. He was terrible, but Mickey showed him how to hold it and how to swing. A couple of hours passed without them even realising.

Mickey only figured it was late when it had gotten pretty dark.

"You sure your dad is coming? Mine is only gone for a little while when it gets dark," Mickey said.

"I don't know, he forgets us sometimes."

"Why does he do that?"

"I don't know, he says he doesn't mean to. He always says he's sorry."

"Well it's kind of dark out... I have to go home," Mickey said, scuffing his feet.

"Oh..." Ian said, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout.

"You could come to my house, we can wait there until it isn't dark any more," Mickey said.

"Really? Like a sleep over?"

Mickey nodded, "Yeah, it doesn't take long to walk."

Ian nodded with a big grin, "Okay!" he said excitedly.

"You want to carry the ball?" Mickey asked and Ian nodded again, smiling up at the slightly taller boy and Mickey just grinned down at him.

They walked the few blocks to Mickey's house, Mickey asked Ian where he lived and he said he wasn't sure, that his big sister always knew the way. Mickey promised that tomorrow they'd go out and try to find it, because he didn't have to do anything and he was allowed to go out for walks on his own.

They made it to his place and Mickey led Ian inside, heading straight to his bedroom to show him all his cool stuff. They just sat around and played with a stolen train set for a while until Terry came barging in to go to the bathroom.

"Hi dad," Mickey said as he passed him and Terry just nodded gruffly.

"Yeah, yeah, hey kid..." he grumbled as he passed, stopping at the bathroom door and turning around with a furrowed brow. "What the fuck? Who the fuck is this?" he asked, looking down at Ian.

The freckled faced, ginger kid was most definitely not one of his own.

"This is my friend Ian, he was waiting for his dad at the baseball field and it got dark so he came back with me. We're going to find his house tomorrow," Mickey said, proud of himself.

"Jesus Christ... _Yo woman!_ Your damn son is bringin' home other people's fuckin' children!" he bellowed and Ian flinched.

"What the hell are you yelling about?" Mickey's mother walked into the doorway and stared down at the child that obviously wasn't hers. "Mickey, you can't go out picking up kids that ain't related to you!"

They argued over the two kids for a while and Mickey could see Ian getting upset. He looked over at him and put his hands over his own ears with a smile and Ian did the same, sniffing again but smiling back at his new friend.

It was about that time that Iggy walked into the room to see what the fuss was about.

"Hey I know that kid," he said. "That's that little Gallagher, you know, that Frank guy's kid."

"Frank fuckin' Gallagher huh? You know where he lives?" Terry said, looking over at Iggy who nodded. "Get him the fuck out of here."

"I said he could sleep over," Mickey said, taking his hands away even though he could still hear with them up there.

Terry just scoffed, leaning down real close to Mickey's face. "Boys don't have fuckin' sleepovers. Take the kid back," he looked over at Ian with a raised eyebrow. "Ugly little fucker ain't he?"

He got up and walked to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door.

"Get him outta here," his mother said with stern eyes and Mickey sighed, pulling Ian's hands away from his ears.

Iggy said he knew the way, Mickey was worried that maybe he didn't and they'd be out in the dark forever. Ian was a little scared of the dark, Mickey could tell.

"It's the same as day time, just, without the sun," he said and Ian's hand reached up to take his because it just felt better to have someone's hand to hold when he was scared.

Mickey thought about pulling it away and shoving him off, but he was only little after all.

"Mickey's got a _boyfriend_ ," Iggy teased, grinning with his two missing front teeth.

Mickey kicked him in the ankles and he almost fell over. Soon enough they were at the house that Iggy thought was the Gallaghers and Ian grinned, dragging Mickey up the steps because he recognised the place.

He knocked on the door with his small hand and soon enough it was opening up. Behind it stood a short-ish girl with wavy brown hair wearing shorts and a singlet. She was probably eleven, maybe twelve, who knows.

"Ian!" she said, kneeling down to hug him tightly.

He didn't let go of Mickey's hand as he hugged her back and Mickey shuffled his feet a little.

When she pulled back she looked up at Mickey with a raised eyebrow, "Who are you?" she asked.

"I... uh..." Mickey looked around for Iggy but he was already gone, no doubt bored and looking for something better to do in the middle of the night.

"This is Mickey," Ian said with a grin.

"Thanks," the girl said, "Thought dad had really left you somewhere this time."

"He was down at the baseball field," Mickey shrugged.

"Then we went back to his house, I was going to sleepover," Ian was still smiling, not having even a clue that the girl had been worried sick about her baby brother.

"What have I told you about strangers?" she said.

He dropped his head guiltily, "Sorry Fiona," he said.

She sighed. "We missed you, come one, get inside."

"Can Mickey come?" he asked hopefully.

Fiona looked him up and down. "You don't need feeding do you, we barely have enough as it is."

Mickey shook his head, "No."

"You can stay if you want," she shrugged and Ian's grin turned stellar.

"I'll show you my room!" Ian said, pulling Mickey along, their hands still joined.

He didn't really mind, this whole 'having a friend' thing was actually kind of nice, even if it was with a ginger-haired, freckle-faced five year old with a crooked smile.

_ prompt by: [casthebutler](http://casthebutler.tumblr.com) _


End file.
